


Number Six is Dead

by thatfaerieprincess



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Ben angst, Ben backstory, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, and how bens death tore them all apart, ben tentacle gore?, but fairly graphic descriptions of ben during it, but its about all of them, hargreeves sibling angst, idk how to tag im so sorry, its narrated so none of the siblings besides ben are explictly mentioned by name, so be wary of gore i guess?, vague handwaving about the actual event itself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24290596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatfaerieprincess/pseuds/thatfaerieprincess
Summary: No one talks about Ben’s death, but everyone remembers.  They don’t like to let themselves think about it, because thinking about it would bring back the pain, the anguish. The anger.  But late at night, when sleep won’t come, and the dark creeps in and surrounds them like a thick, heavy blanket, they can’t think of anything but.  They’re all haunted by those memories.  The ones that tore them apart and sent them fleeing the academy and the man who called himself their father.
Kudos: 14





	Number Six is Dead

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this about a year ago and never posted it, just completely forgot. Figured it was time to share it with everyone now before S2 starts! It's vaguely edited, but not much.... so apologies in advance for any bullshit!

No one talks about Ben’s death, but everyone remembers.They don’t like to let themselves think about it, because thinking about it would bring back the pain, the anguish. The anger.But late at night, when sleep won’t come, and the dark creeps in and surrounds them like a thick, heavy blanket, they can’t think of anything but.They’re all haunted by those memories.The ones that tore them apart and sent them fleeing the academy and the man who called himself their father. 

Sir Reginald should have seen it coming.He should have heeded Ben’s warnings and insistences.But he didn’t.It took a whole week to get the situation under control. 

It had been getting stronger and stronger in the weeks leading up to the event, slowly gaining the upper hand in their delicate balance of lives.Every time he opened that rift, it got stronger.Usually he could outmatch it, beat it back and force it inside.But this time, it was too strong.There was nothing Ben could do.He was no longer in control. 

When they close their eyes, they can still see it writhing around.Like a giant octopus, slinking along with coiling, reaching tentacles.Ben was just an ornament on its slimy skin.Split open from sternum to waist, he was a bump on its exterior to fling around as it pleased.It wreaked havoc on anything and everything in its path.It was a bloodbath.No one stood a chance against its powerful muscle or its mighty hunger. 

In the dark of night, they remember Ben, powerless and afraid as he was thrown around, cut open and left to the whim of a merciless beast.They remember how every hit they landed on its slippery limbs caused him to cry out in pain.Cosmically linked.His screams still echo in the backs of their minds, getting louder and louder until they block out all other thoughts.There was nothing they could do.They had orders.

Once it became clear they couldn’t beat it in combat, it took Sir Reginald several days to concoct a tranquilizer strong enough to neutralize the beast.They weren’t allowed to be there when he took it down.But in their minds it took several long minutes before it slowed its movement and sagged to the ground, the tentacles going still. They knew Ben’s body had been mostly limp for days, tears and blood staining his dazed face.They had seen that. Mentally, he had checked out after day three, unable to remain present to process the destruction and pain.It was probably a relief to get to slip under the drugs, to finally rest.

The last they saw of their brother was a glimpse of his unconscious body, small and limp in Grace’s arms.Sir Reginald was directing her to the medical room and Pogo to keep the children out of his away.In the dark recesses of their minds, none of them can rid themselves of that final image; bruised, battered, and very bloodied.Only some of it was his own blood.They remember sitting in silence in the living room, waiting all night with bated breath.Eyes darting back and forth between them, waiting for some kind of sign.Sir Reginald never appeared.

It was two whole days before he appeared again at the breakfast table, sitting down to eat as if it were any other morning.Ben was not at the table. Ben did not enter with him.No one said a word.They remember looking across the table with pleading looks, silently begging each other to ask. No one did. They forced down their meals as best they could.At the end of breakfast, Sir Reginald cleared his throat and every head in the room turned. His next words would echo through their minds for years to come, seep into their veins and drawl out their deepest anger.It would whisper itself to them on the howling winds, whipping them into blind rage.

_“Number Six is dead. The risk of another containment breach was too great.”_

Sir Reginald had come to the conclusion that they couldn’t chance Ben waking up and losing control.That they couldn’t chance the beast ripping its way out again.He hadn’t consult anyone.He had decided it was the best course of action, and he took it.He had injected the toxin into Ben’s bloodstream with no remorse, killing both beast and boy almost instantly.

They remember sitting at that table in stunned silence, frozen in place as he stood and left the room, not staying to offer even a tiny morsel of comfort.No one remembers who made the first sound, or let out the first sob, but they all remember holding each other.They remember Pogo and Grace with somber faces and tight hugs. But most of all, they remember how their grief destroyed them.

They had never learned how to support each other, or how to have each other’s backs in anything besides combat. Sir Reginald hadn’t believed it was necessary.There were important things to learn, and how to be a family was not one of them.Instead of bringing them together, their grief drove them into isolation. There was nothing Grace nor Pogo could do to stop it.That morning was the last they would spend together for a very long time. 

All alone, grief morphed and took on new forms in all of them.It turned to anger, to hopelessness, to denial.It emboldened them and tore them down. It pitted them against each other until, splintered and broken, they decided they couldn’t stand it anymore.Until one by one they all left.Frightened, haunted, and alone. 


End file.
